How "President Trump" Will Impact Australia

Newsroom

Posted on November 09, 2016

It's official (whether you want to believe it or not)!

Donald Trump has won the US presidency.

But what will its impact be on Australia?

If Mr Trump keeps his election promises, the real estate mogul and reality TV show star will bring a wave of uncertainty to Australia and other allied nations who have heavily relied on the super power since the end of World War II.

In his first 100 days in office Mr Trump has promised to withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the proposed 12-nation pact with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Chile and Peru.

Mr Trump has threatened to "rip up" existing free trade agreements with Australia and 19 other nations and "make really good ones".

Mr Trump has vowed to direct his new secretary of commerce to "identify every violation of trade agreements a foreign country is currently using to harm our workers, and also direct all appropriate agencies to use every tool under American and international law to end these abuses".

"Withdrawal of support for TPP is bad enough, but the ramifications of Trump's trade policies go much farther, threatening to inflame relations with China and disrupt existing alliances with free trade partners, including South Korea, Singapore, a critical partner in Southeast Asia, and longtime ally Australia," the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington DC-based think tank, stated in a report in September.

US military alliances with Australia, Japan, South Korea and other friendly nations will be reviewed, with Mr Trump declaring allies need to pay the US "because we are providing tremendous service and we're losing a fortune".

Mr Trump also says he will pull the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, stop billions of dollars in global warming payments to the United Nations and use that money to support America's environmental infrastructure and natural resources.

He will dramatically boost the US military, increasing the Army to 540,000 active duty soldiers, rebuild the US Navy toward a goal of 350 ships, provide the US Air Force with 1,200 fighter aircraft and grow the US Marine Corps to 36 battalions.

"Peace through strength will be at the centre of our foreign policy," Mr Trump says on his campaign website.